Valuing used cars, especially when they are oddities, is always something of a coin toss. Indeed, that’s the case with absolutely every old car: they are all unique in their own way, be it paint colour, random dents or the mileage. There are a lot of things to consider and there are no hard and fast rules, just rough guidelines.
It was interesting, then, to get an email from Edward, who has a 2003 Volkswagen Beetle 2.0-litre petrol in silver. In his own words, it is “nothing special but it is immaculate and has done just 25,000 miles. This is genuine. I have the sales invoice from 2004. The mileage is shown then as under 11,000.”
It belonged to a friend who did only a few hundred miles a year and sadly passed away, but there is a full service history, plus, as a precaution, Edward had the timing belt and water pump replaced at 18,000 miles. So here you have a new Beetle that is as original as you would ever care to find.
The great thing about Edward is that he is prepared to be realistic about the price. Trouble is, so many owners have unrealistic expectations. Ask any car dealer at part-exchange time. In this case, the new Beetle, although cancelled and potentially making a comeback as an electric one, is a future classic and you might get £2000-£3000 for a mint one like this. Ideally, you need to find a ‘Beetleist’ who wants to make it part of their collection, or maybe use as a daily driver.
That means the rest of us who aren’t bothered can find some low-mile gems. Well, you might not call a Rover CityRover a gem, but I came across a 2005 1.4 Select model with 12,000 miles and presumably owned by some old person. The asking price was still a quite stiff £1499, but I think the dealer would have taken much closer to a grand. Future collectible right there, possibly.
Perhaps a not rusty Ford Ka would be a much better bet. So a 2008 Studio with 10,000 miles might be good. It’s rather more iconic even at £2120, although if you said you were interested in it just as a runabout, you ought to get it way below £2000.
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The problem with low mileage
The problem with low mileage cars is to check rubber hoses, seals etc haven't perished through underuse. A high mileage car with meticulous maintenace is sometimes better, especially the age of car where mileage doesn't affect value.
We had a warranty on the wife's car and it was useless, almost anything can be classed as wear and tear, and you regardless of age you need a stamped official service history from day 1.
WallMeerkat wrote:
If you can find a low mileage car that has clearly been garaged you can save yourself from some of the risks of perishing rubber and plastic but not always. Cars are afterall designed to be used as you suggest.
Recently paid £500 for a mint 2003 Beetle convertible...
To use in a European banger rally. It even came with £650 Tansy Daisy alloys (Google then, they're awful). It's an amazing car, despite the 165k miles. Happy to send you some pics of it during the event. Fingers crossed it makes it home!
While I'm here, these second hand car articles are best part of Autocars website, keep up the good work!
Beetle diesel
I live in Washington state and drive a 2000 vw beetle diesel with 163,000 miles on the clock , use it every day for my 46 mile round trip commute . I get 550 miles for $40 (about 13 gallons). I change the oil on a regular basis and keep on top of general up keep but it keeps going and going . It saves me a fortune when compared to everyone else driving their v8 pick ups ! It’s still worth about $3000 as the diesels are highly sought after and the price of second hand cars are insanely high (I’m from Essex so I know us car prices as keep my eye on up autotrader)